A PRACTICAL LESSON FROM BIOLOGICAL STUDIES[29]

In the name of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, I beg to thank you, and those societies which have joined together in presenting this address, for the kind terms in which it is expressed and has been delivered to me. It is most gratifying to us--who believe in the beneficial results upon human life conferred by the diffusion of scientific knowledge, as all members of this great association must do--to find that our work, and the objects of our meeting are so highly appreciated by such a wide circle as that represented by the signatories to this address. It is, moreover, particularly satisfactory to find such a recognition--where, perhaps, at first sight, we might hardly have expected it--of the advantages of pure or abstract science apart from its practical application to the material welfare of mankind. You have recognised what is certainly known to those who have followed most closely the history of science, but what is not so generally known or appreciated by others, that nearly all the marvellous benefits which have been conferred on man by the application of scientific knowledge have been the results of the discoveries of philosophers who are pursuing knowledge solely for its own sake--without any hope of reward, without any hope of benefit to themselves or to others, and, very often, amid the indifference, the neglect, and even the scorn of their contemporaries. The particular branch of science which it is my lot to represent is, at first sight, very little specially connected with the general welfare of man, and is looked upon by many as little more than idle speculation or mere curiosity. I well remember--though it is certainly many years ago now--one who, more than any one else living in this country, has advanced that branch of science--Professor Huxley--in a lecture delivered at the Royal Institution, saying that the common idea of a naturalist was “a wet, dirty man poking about the sea-shore with a net in one hand and a bottle in the other--an innocent and perhaps harmless individual, but a very useless one.” Well, I may say that the description was made some thirty years ago, before Professor Huxley himself had done so much to raise the character of naturalists and natural history in this country, yet it still holds good in the opinion of many at the present time. You must recollect, however, that the researches of naturalists of that class, men who have occupied themselves in closely observing the ways and habits, and studying the structure of animals of a low type of organisation, have produced already marvellous results upon the happiness and welfare of mankind. Through researches of this kind we are obtaining knowledge of the causes and prevention of disease, which, when further advanced, for they are only beginning now, will, I have no doubt, lead to an enormous saving of health and of life. Moreover, through the researches of such naturalists greater results still have been produced. They have produced effects upon our mode of thinking on many subjects--on our relations to each other and to the universe--effects the end of which we hardly see at present. And they have taught us one great lesson, one that I alluded to in the address which I had the honour of giving here last Wednesday--namely, that progress in living nature has been due in great measure to the principle which Darwin most popularised, if he did not first enunciate, which he, at all events, brought into the condition in which we now know it--that of the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence. Now, it is a law in nature that there should be a certain amount of individual differences or variations in the different animals and plants inhabiting the earth, and that the progress from the lower to the higher forms of animals and plants has been due to the opportunity of those individuals who are a little superior in some respects to their fellows of asserting that superiority, of continuing to live, and of propagating that superiority as an inheritance to their descendants. That law, established in nature, is, I believe, equally applicable to ourselves; and this is the message which pure and abstract biological research has sent to help us on in some of the commonest problems of human life. The lesson is this--that there is always a certain amount of variability, that there is no such thing as equality--equality in powers of work, equality in powers of endurance, or equality in the powers of men for doing great things in the world; and that progress depends on giving full liberty to that inequality, wherever it asserts itself, having full play. Now, supposing this law did not exist in the animal kingdom, instead of the world being filled with all the diversity and beauty which it now possesses, every living thing would have been in the condition of slimy polyps at the bottom of the sea, and if it did not exist in mankind, we should all still be in the condition of flint-chipping savages. I will leave it to you to apply to yourselves, in your own social condition and social life, the application of that law. I will not press it any further at present, but leave you to think it out afterwards. You will, however, easily see that it means that, as there is no such thing as equality among yourselves, if you are to have progress there must be no attempt whatever to keep down the capacities of the superior to the level of the inferior. Any man who gets a little rise above his fellows helps on the progress of the world, and brings all the others on with him. Now, having merely mentioned an application of abstract science from a quarter where, perhaps, you little expect it, I will conclude by once more thanking you, Mr. Girling, and those who have forwarded the address in the name of the Association. I am sure it will give the Association great pleasure to hear what you have done, and how you have sympathised with their work, and to assure you that the hopes and wishes expressed at the end of the address are, as far as possible, most fully realised.